Fresh Thai Pineapple & Cucumber Salad

I love pineapples (Ananas comosus), a versatile fruit in which it's so sweeeeeeet and very fragrant as well! I like to use them not only in sweet desserts, drinks (what's Piña Colada without Pineapple!) or the local favourite like Pineapple Jam and Pineapple Tarts! It also gives extra tang (or a 'kick') of sweetness in savoury recipes like Pineapple Pajeri, Achar, Crab Curry, Salt Fish with Pineapple Curry, Sambals, Rojaks, Salad... The list is endless with such delicious fruit originated from southern part of Brazil and Paraguay. There are several types of pineapples hybrids that I love, available locally in Malaysia, mainly Moris (Gula Batu/Rock Sugar) Pineapple, Sarawak Pineapple, Honey Pineapple, Joesphine and Gandul Pineapple.

I remembered when I was little, I hate eating pineapples even though it's so delicious in my favourite Salt Fish & Pineapple Curry or Laksa. It's because of the dark brown 'eyes', bracts or spots which ever names it's known, caused my tongue to itch and hurt badly. My mom furiously scared when I ate pineapples with hands... :-D It's because the pineapple juice left blotches of marks on her vinyl flooring when dried... :-P Well, occasionally I still have the stings but I can handle it... with MucoAid :-P

Here's a fresh salad recipe that is very simple to make for a fuss-free hot Summer days gathering with family and friends over the BBQ... with cool and refreshing Piña Colada, of course!

Fresh Thai Pineapple & Cucumber Salad

Serves 2-4

¼ pc Fresh Pineapple ~ peeled, cored and dark brown 'eyes'/bracts removed*

( * I used only ¼ of 1 whole fresh pineapple)

2 nos Japanese Cucumbers (Kyuri) or 1 medium size cucumber

1 nos Red Onion ~ thinly sliced

1 bunch Watercress

1 Red Chilli ~ sliced thinly (optional)

Dressing:

3 Tbl Fresh Lime or Lemon juice

2 Tbl Soy Sauce

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Chilli Sauce

2 Tbl Fresh Mint ~ chopped (about 3-4 stalks)

Method:

1. Peel cucumbers and cut into halves lengthwise. With a small teaspoon, scoop out the seeds and cut into 1 cm pieces (you can leave the seeds on if you want, if you're using Japanese Cucumbers/Kyuri). Place it in a bowl.

2. Cut the pineapple also into 1 cm pieces and add to the cucumber.

3. Add in the sliced red onion and watercress. Mix well.

4. For the dressing; in another bowl, mix all ingredients with a whisk.

5. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss thoroughly. Serve in a salad bowl or individual plates. If you want extra spicy and hot, add some more sliced red chilli.

Note: To avoid the salad become watery, add the dressing only when you are about to serve. If you like, add some coarsely pounded toasted peanuts or any nuts of your choice.

Enjoy!

Thai Pumpkin And Chicken Curry

I was curious about this Virgin Coconut Oil and all the fuss for some time now. There were shows and information spreading around about this 'healthy coconut oil' which is derived from Fresh Coconut instead of it's dried form, Copra which is a RBD Coconut Oil (RBD stands for refined, bleached and deodorized). I finally found some brands available at an organic counter. I chose a smaller bottle to start with as I don't know how it will taste or how good it's heat tolerance in cooking as claimed by many. Also, it's said that Virgin Coconut Oil has medicinal and beauty values ranging for human usage to your faithful pets!

Guessed what? I'm hooked! :-P I was surprised by the quality of this Virgin Coconut Oil... After I cooked with the oil, the sweet coconut aroma was still there and less smoky too when it's subjected to very high heat. I'm thinking of replacing recipes using butter with Virgin Coconut Oil (like coconut in cookies) instead as suggested by Toni Fiore of Totally Vegetarian fame. Then I got this idea of replacing recipe using coconut milk with evaporated milk and Virgin Coconut Oil. The evaporated milk to give a creamy look and Virgin Coconut Oil for the coconut aroma... LOL. I'm not sure about other foodies opinions about this replacement as not all recipes are suitable and I still feel that nothing beats the original taste of fresh coconut milk... well, once awhile it's no harm. Everything should be taken in moderation, right?

If you are interested to make your own Virgin Coconut Oil, you can look into Milyn and Peter Christopher's blog, Homemadestyle and Virgin Coconut Oil.Com.

Back to the recipe, here's a recipe I used my left overs from recent cooking. I also added extra Bird's Eye Chillies at the end of the cooking to give that extra kick of wake-me-up and for my chilli-crazy brother who visited me so early in the morning on Friday :-|

Serve with steamed rice and chillies!

Thai Pumpkin and Chicken Curry

Serves 2-4

1 small Pumpkin (any suitable pumpkin, about 500 g - 700g)

500 g Boneless Chicken Thighs - cut into bite-sized pieces

½ cup Thai Basil - firmly packed & chiffonade

To be blended into paste:

2 nos Shallots - chopped coarsely

3 cloves garlic - chopped coarsely

3 Tbl Thai Red Curry Paste

2 Tbl Water

300 ml Fresh Coconut Milk (canned or packed can be use)

2 Tbl Fish Sauce (Nam pla)

1 nos Lime (½ Lemon) - extract the juice only

2 tsp Palm sugar or Light Brown Sugar

3 Tbl Virgin Coconut Oil or Cooking Oil of your choice

Method:

1. Prepare the pumpkin; halved, seeded, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks. Washed and drain well.

2. For the curry base: In a blender, add in the garlic, shallots, Thai Curry Paste and water. Process until smooth.

3. In another small bowl, combine the coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

4. Heat up a pot or deep pan over medium heat. Add in 2 Tbl of cooking oil. Shallow fry the chicken meat until light brown (half cooked). Remove and transfer the chicken pieces into a bowl or plate. Set aside.

5. Return the pot/pan to the heat and add the remaining oil. Add the curry paste and stir until fragrant (be careful the paste will caused the oil to splatter).

6. Add in the chicken meat and pumpkin. Mix well with the paste mixture.

7. Stir in the coconut milk mixture and bring to boil.

8. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the pumpkin is tender and chicken meat is cooked throughout.

9. Ladle into a bowl and garnish with Thai Basil. Serve with steamed Jasmine Rice or your favourite rice.

Note:

If you're health conscious, you can use evaporated milk instead of coconut milk. What I did before was to use Virgin Coconut Oil to cook the curry paste. Then I add in evaporated milk. This gives you the fragrant coconut flavour and creamy gravy. You can adjust the hotness of Curry Paste to your liking if you prefer.

Enjoy!

Fish In Tamarind Soup (Hoo Khong Asam)

Towards year ends, I always feeling nostalgic about my childhood (A Mother's Heart by William Joseph playing in the background :-P.) Since the passing of my parents in 2001, the memories of mom's cooking became more evident. She cooked with no written down recipes but from her memories of what she saw on TV, magazines or someone told her how to cook certain dish by word of mouth at the local fresh market. She was able to recreate dishes she liked when I took her out to dine at local eateries whenever I'm free from work. I'm proud of her abilities to cook just from such methods (or should I said from scratch?) because she only managed to study until 11 - 12 years old. Being the only child in her family and both her parents passed away in her early adulthood must have lead her to harness such skill to survive independently. Sad to say, until today I never seen pictures of my grandparents but my priority was to make my mom happy throughout her living years... :-)

Voila! All that aside... one of the dishes I missed from my mom is fish cooked in tamarind based soup. I would attacked 2 plates of plain rice soaked up to the brim with the soup! It's like drinking Assam Laksa soup with whole fish instead of deboned fish meat. The way to cook Assam Laksa is similar too but with lots of fish instead.

Actually, I don't know the origin of this dish we called 'Hoo Khong Assam' (Hokkien dialect.) It's been in my family as far as I could remember. It's quite confused because Southeast Asia is Cauldron of Cuisine that links with each other in some ways or another. As for me, I think this dish is similar to Thai's Gaeng Som as my mom is half-Thai. There are other versions using tamarind as the main ingredient like Nyonya/Peranakan cuisine's Gerang Asam which used candlenuts and Filipino's Sinigang. Since her version was not written down, I started from scratch as much I could recalled but this time with measurement and not estimates as most traditional Asian mothers would do :-D This recipe is all about taste and love of my mother that made it so special in my heart.

Fish In Tamarind Soup (Hoo Khong Asam)

Serves 4 -6

300 g -500 g Spanish Mackerel fish - cleaned and gutted

For the Soup:

3 - 6 pcs Tamarind slices

4 cm Fresh Tumeric - washed & roughly sliced or bruised

10 g -15 g Fresh Vietnamese Mint Leaves/Laksa Leaves-washed & trim leaves.

4 - 6 pcs Fresh Red Chillies or Bird's Eye Chillies

2-3 nos Tomatoes - quartered

5 - 10 nos Shallots - cleaned and roughly crushed

1 stalk Ginger Flower - remove stem & cut the flower bud into half or quarters

4 - 8 pcs Ladies Fingers (Okra) - washed and cut into halves

2 stalks Lemongrass - use only the white parts & lightly bruised

10 g Galangal - washed, remove dirt and bruised skin, sliced thinly

10 g Shrimp Paste (Belacan)

1 liter of Water

Salt and Sugar OR Fish Sauce to taste

Method:

1. Prepare all the vegetables and set aside.

2. Trim off the fins and tails. If the fish is large, cut into halves. Set aside.

3. In a pot, heat the water until it boils. Put in all the vegetables except Ladies Fingers/Okra and tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium and let it boils until the liquid changes color.

4. Add in the Ladies Fingers/Okra and Tomatoes.

5. Let the soup boils for few seconds and add in the fish.

6. Add in salt and sugar or Thai fish sauce to taste.

7. Continue to boil the soup until fish is cooked.

8. Serve hot with rice.

Notes: If you can find Belimbing Buluh or Belimbing Masam (Averrhoa Bilimbi) is even better to add sourness into the soup as Tamarind slices or Asam Gelugor (Garcinia atroviridis) considered by locals to be too strong for the stomach. Please use sparingly, if you're prone to gastric problems. I preferred to use seafood like fish or prawns for this recipe instead of meat. If you can't find Shrimp Paste or Belacan, you can omit it and adjust the taste with more Fish Sauce. Always remember to taste your cooking several times and adjust accordingly.

Happy Cooking!

Thai Sweet Basil (Horapa)

Thai Sweet Basil or 'Horapa' is one of the common cultivar group of basil. It's a common herb used widely in Southeast Asia region especially in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. It's easy to grow them from the cuttings you purchased off the supermarket shelves. Just soak the cuttings in some clean water and change the water every 2 -3 days until you can see some rootings protruding from the stems. Then you plant it in quality soil in pots or garden. I planted in large pots with organic soil by itself because they root very fast and  agressively just like Lemongrass. Their roots will 'choke' other plants so, it's advisable to let them have their own territory...To have more leaves, cut the flowers off before they bloom or you can add the flowers to your Thai recipes or salad -  the colorful pinkish-white flowers add another dimension to your dishes! By the way, different species of basil has different color of flowers, smell/fragrance and leaf textures. For example, the Basilicum that is common in Europe has white flowers and broad green, soft leaves and lesser anise taste compared to Southeast Asian varieties.

Here's one my pots of Thai Basil with it's flowers and green-purple leaves...

The tiny seeds can be made into Basil Seed drinks (Nam Mangklak) like Falooda or Sherbet/Sharbat, you can mix it with honey or Bubble Tea... I also like mine added to fresh coconut juice with a little bit of rose syrup. It's also a common remedy for fever or during hot season to cool down the body heat and aids digestion. Besides it's important usage in various cuisines and in essential oils, basil plays important role in cultural aspects of ancient civilisations, even today, it's highly regard in religions and beliefs...

Another FUN part is... the basil seeds looked like frog's eggs because the seeds became gelatinous when soaked in water with its' tiny black dot in the centre, wobbly,oogly... ok, ok, ok no more details... :-D

Oh, have a read of Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron and John Keats' narrative poem Isabella or The Pot of Basil. 

One thing for sure, basil is always welcome in my kitchen and its within reach means I can enjoy my favourite Basil dishes anytime I want... from simple sambal or salad to fried rice! The choices are endless...